VIDEO: Police crash outside Norwich pub caused by fatigue

A Norfolk police officer who crashed a patrol car into bollards outside a city pub is thought to have been suffering from fatigue, a report has revealed.

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The crash, which demolished a line of posts outside the Ribs of Beef pub, near Fye Bridge, Norwich, happened at 4.45am on May 29 and has been viewed more than 67,000 times since CCTV footage was posted on YouTube.

Police refused to comment on the cause of the crash at the time, but a report obtained following a Freedom of Information request (FoI) said it would “appear a second’s inattentiveness on behalf of the officer through fatigue” was to blame.

The force have since described the crash as a “very rare occurrence” which was being treated as an “isolated incident”. But a spokesman said the force provided a 24/7 response to the public and in January implemented a “new forward-rotating shift pattern” which all front-line officers now work to which is “designed to reduce the amount of fatigue”.

He said: “The matter of road incidents involving police officers is taken extremely seriously, with specific policies and procedures followed. All evidence is carefully and objectively reviewed with a mandatory referral to our Professional Standards Department if there is any indication of misconduct.

“As previously stated, this incident was fully investigated as a road traffic collision by a senior officer, with further reviews carried out by the Criminal Justice Unit and Professional Standards.

“The inquiries found there were no criminal or formal misconduct matters to answer.”

He added: “The officer has received management action as a result of the investigation.”

The officer involved has not been named. The damaged police car has since been repaired.

Norwich City Council said the cost of repairs to bollards has not yet been established, but work to replace them is to be carried out in the next two months, with the bill for the work set to be sent to police.